By Sean CW Korsgaard
CP Reporter
Walking into the room of the Sidney E. King Arts Center that houses the Caroline Historical Society, you’d be right in thinking they had the makings of a small museum, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s a memorial to some of the brave men of Caroline County who fought for this country, some of whom never made it back home to Virginia. It’s a labor of love from the men and women of the Caroline Historical Society, whose efforts and affection are evident from the moment they begin to talk. Above all else though, it’s a work in progress one that needs your help to complete.
A major part of what the Caroline Historical Society has been focused on the last couple years has been collecting local artifacts from various local veterans and their families, as part of the ongoing World War I Centennial and the 75th Anniversary of World War II. However they got them, Wayne Brooks, President of the Caroline Historical Society, says the group is doing all they can to display them with honor, and to tell their stories with pride.
“Every item in this room has a story,” said Brooks. “Some end happily, some ended in tragedy, but we’re doing all we can to collect these stories so we can tell them for many more years to come.”
Items on display range from the strange – a coconut a Marine serving in the Pacific mailed back home to Texas at the height of World War II – to the somber – letters returned to sender because the soldier they were written for had been killed in action – but every one of them has a story that deserves to be told, says Brooks.
were written for had been killed in action – but every one of them has a story that deserves to be told, says Brooks.
“The pride of the collection however is on display in the atrium near the entrance – a collection approximately 460 individual photos from the Caroline Progress of men and women who served during World War II. Taken from the original wooden blocks used to print them during World War II, the Caroline Historical Society has had them for more than 20 years, and only recently, though the charity of Gary Billingsley and Billingsley Printing in Fredericksburg, have they been able to reproduce these photos.
“He did it all for free, even though we offered to compensate him,” said Brooks. “Gary is a veteran himself, he just told us this was something that needed to be done, and he was glad to do it.”
Now that the photos have been reproduced – some for the first time since World War II – the hard work is just beginning: only around half have been identified, and even with 460 photos, there are many Caroline County servicemen and women whose photos are still missing. This, Brooks says, is where he needs your help.
“We hope people will come in, take a look, see if they recognize a relative or a friend, and can help us put names to some of these faces, or maybe even add a few new faces,” said Brooks. “Looking at it as a whole, all these people, men and women, black and white, all of them served Caroline, we owe it to them to remember their names, their faces, and their stories. We owe it to them to never forget them.”
The pictures are on display at the Caroline Historical Society, located on Main Street in Bowling Green, and will remain open to the public through the end of the year. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free.
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